It is often difficult to extinguish a fire in a high-rise building because the floor or floors on which the fire is located is/are inaccessible due to the heat accompanying the fire. This excessive heat will often cause windows to blow out. The open windows allow oxygen to feed the fire creating an even more difficult situation.
High-rise buildings typically have sprinkler systems to help extinguish fires and help firefighters access the burning floors. Many times, these sprinkler systems are not sufficient to battle a hot and out of control fire, especially when the windows of the building have already blown out. Some older buildings have no sprinkler systems at all. If the fire is located on a lower floor, a fire truck waterway can be used to douse the burning floor with water or foam. However, when the floor is beyond the reach of the waterway, there is very little chance that firefighters will be able to access the burning floors until some cooling takes place.
One method and apparatus for treating a fire in a multi-floored building is disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,299,883, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The '883 patent discloses a means for treating a fire located on a first floor vertically displaced from a second floor from which the fire is treated. The first and second floors each have a selectively openable environmental access along an external wall of the multi-floored building. A tubular member is hoisted on a pivot point up to a higher floor environmental access from a lower floor environmental access. One drawback of the method and apparatus of the '883 patent is the difficulty in hoisting the tubular member outwardly from the lower floor access and upwardly to the second floor access.
The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed above and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior fire fighting equipment. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.